Mario: The Shadow Saga
by Falco Master
Summary: Bowser is taking over...And Mario has come to stop him. Set in a darker time, Mario will stop at nothing to stop Bowser once and for all. Chapter 3 is up!
1. The Journey Begins

Chapter 1: The Journey Begins  
  
One day Mario wakes up, and finds himself alone. As he stood up, he thought to himself "Where, am I? What.happened?" Mario got up slowly, but then he realized he was in a building, and it was dark. He could see the faint outline of broken furniture, on the ground. He tried to find a way out, but he couldn't find a door or anything. "My head aches," Mario groaned. "It's getting hot." Then there was light, he could see. "Fire!" he thought. Panicking he stumbled about looking for a way out. He found the door but it was jammed. A faint beam of light was in the room. It was the moon shining through the window. It was his only chance for escape. "It's now or never," he thought. Right after that, he jumped. Crashing through the window, with pieces of glass flying everywhere. He got scraped on his face by a shard of glass. It was under his eye, a deep cut. Other pieces of glass scraped and tore at his skin. Mario screamed in agony. It seemed like he was falling forever, just waiting to die. Then Mario hit the ground, and everything went black.  
  
Mario awoke, but he felt that all his bones were broken. "Ugh. am I.alive?" He could hear birds chirping, and animals running about. He lay there, on the same spot for several minutes. He felt dead. Mario opened his eyes and saw a figure. But he couldn't make him, she or it out. "Mario! Good to see you!" The figure was talking to Mario. "Get up! You can't just lay there doing nothing!" the voice said again. "You are all cut and bruised! How would such bad things happen to such a good man? Get up!" Mario still didn't know who it was, but he seemed familiar. Mario had trouble standing up, but eventually he got up. His eyes focused and now remembered. "Geno!" Mario said. "It's great to see you! What happened?" Geno started to explain, "A war. The war to end all wars, or so it is said. Bowser, that fiend, went forth to the." but it was not finished. Geno stopped talking. He moaned as he fell to the ground. Standing behind Geno, was a koopa.  
"That hit on the head should put him to sleep for a couple of hours,"  
the koopa said. Mario started to run towards it, but then he  
remembered all his cuts and bruises. "Ahhhh!" Mario screamed as he fell to the ground again. "You're coming with me mushroom scum!" the koopa said.  
  
Mario got roused up and woke up. He was moving. He opened his eyes and he was on a koopa. The koopa was holding on Mario firmly his back. The koopa was running somewhere, running fast. Mario felt a pain in his ankles and wrists. Tight ropes were tied around them, so he couldn't move. The ropes were tied tight, the pain of the ropes was always there. After a couple of hours, day turned to night. The koopa let Mario of his back and dropped him on the ground. "Yah!" Mario yelled. The koopa looked at him, then turned away. "Stupid scum. We're going to make camp here tonight. Then the koopa got on the ground and tucked himself into his shell. "Stupid scum, stupid scum!" Mario thought in his head. "How dare he call me stupid scum!" After that, Mario settled down. He tried to go to sleep, but he couldn't. He tossed and turned but still stayed awake. He was wondering what was happening, and what would happen. He now felt numb; he couldn't feel the pain anymore. He looked around; everything was hard to see because it was night, late in the night. He saw something glint in the moonlight. A blade! Mario crawled forwards, towards the blade. He slit his bonds on his wrists and ankles. He was free! "Stupid scum! Stupid scum! STUPID SCUM!" that thought ran through Mario's mind as he walked towards the koopa. Mario lifted his hand, going to strike. But the koopa popped out of his shell and moved out of the way. "You can't fool me! I always keep one eye open. Now, do you want me to capture you again? Or are you going to put up a fight?" Mario glanced at the koopa. "I choose the second" Mario ran towards him and swung his fist, but he missed and stumbled. The koopa ran forwards and popped into his shell to do a shell attack. Mario jumped over the flying shell, and grabbed it. The koopa popped out again. "Why did you capture me and where were you taking me?" Mario asked. "To, to the king.the king of the koopas," the koopa replied. Mario dropped the koopa on the ground, and started to walk away. 


	2. The Arrival of Bowser

Chapter 2: The Arrival of Bowser  
  
Mario was walking for a couple of hours, not know where he was going. His clothes were tattered and torn. He still had so many questions he would like answers for. "What happened?" "Where was I when I woke up?" "Why was the koopa taking me to the king of koopas?" to name a few. A couple hours later, the sun started to rise. "Finally, I thought the night would never end," groaned Mario. Mario had no clue where he was. He is lost. Then, he saw something. "Smoke!" he said. Mario ran towards it, going to see what it was. He was in dire need of a fire. He was very cold. But then Mario stopped. He was wondering what if it was a bunch of koopas, or anything evil. Mario walked up slowly, staying out of sight. "They are koopas!" he thought. "Hey, what's in those bushes?" one koopa pondered. Mario started to run, but tripped. The koopa was coming closer, and closer, until he was right in front of him. Frap! A fireball came out of nowhere and hit the koopa. "Ahhh!" the koopa yelled. Mario could hear koopas yelling and shells hitting each other. Then all the noise stopped. Mario stood up, and looked over to where all the koopas were before, there were none anymore. Only empty shells. Then Mario saw a man in green. "Luigi?" he said. The man in green turned around. "Mario!" Luigi said. "I was just cleaning this area of koopas. They're everywhere." " I need to know, what happened? About two days ago." Mario asked. "Well, it first began."  
  
Five toads were scouting the castle grounds when they saw goomba footprints. "What should we do?" one toad said. "Let's check it out," said another. So they followed the footprints when a horde of goombas ambushed them. Luigi heard a scream. He ran to where he heard it. There were battered toads everywhere. Luigi breathing heavily, ran towards the princess, to warn her. "Everyone! Everyone! There are goombas on castle grounds!" he yelled. A couple toads ran towards the front gate, and saw what was going to be the end. Koopas, goombas, paratroopas, and the king himself. "Raise the alarm!" one toad said. Bells were ringing and toads were running everywhere. Some toads grabbed rocks to throw at the huge force. Others took fire-flowers, ready to set the enemy ablaze. Mario was wondering what was happening. "Luigi, what's going on?" Mario said over all of the ruckus. Luigi replied,  
  
"War! Take this, you'll need it." Luigi handed Mario a cape. Then Luigi ran of.  
  
Bowser and his minions were coming closer and closer to the castle. Some koopas held torches, others holding nothing. Back at the castle, toads were jumping on yoshis going out to war. A lot of yoshis were lined up on top of the outer wall. Toads put water melons in their mouths and the yoshis spat the seeds at the hordes of koopas. Some koopas fell to the ground, with the other koopas not noticing. Other toads were shooting fireballs. One hit a goomba in the head. It made a shrilling shriek. Three koopas set up three cannons. They fired one after the other. Blowing the wall to dust. Pieces of the wall flew everywhere. Some hitting helpless toads. The enemy has broken in. The toads set up a wall formation, hoping the enemy wouldn't be able to get through. The toads in the wall were shooting fireballs rapidly. They picked off some goombas and koopas, but they kept on walking forward. One koopa set up a piranha plant. It spat fire at the toads. Toads were screaming, fire was blazing and flying everywhere. About 10 paratroopers grabbed Bowser and lifted him up. They were flying to get into the castle. One yoshi was spitting seeds at the paratroopas, they dropped Bowser on the ground. He roared in rage. Filled with rage, Bowser shot a blaze of fire everywhere. Bowser walked forwards, and into the castle. Toads were throwing bricks at the incoming koopas, but it wasn't effective. Knocking toads aside, Bowser walked towards the throne room. He couldn't be stopped. Ten toads gathered up courage, and ran towards Bowser. Bowser shot red and orange flames everywhere, but it only took down two toads. The other eight kept running. Then, they jumped for Bowser. Holding on to Bowser, the toads were beating him with rocks. "Keep going!" one toad screamed. Bowser clawed at them to get them off. He grabbed one by the back and threw him to the ground. Bowser took a deep breath, and then he shot blazing fire everywhere. The toads that were clinging to Bowser fell to the ground in pain. Bowser kept on walking. Closer, and closer he got to the throne room of the princess herself. One yoshi swallowed a koopa and spat the shell out. It took out some koopas, and then hit Bowser. Bowser didn't say anything. Three koopas viscously attacked the yoshi for spewing that koopa shell.  
  
Bowser, has reached the doors to the throne room. He opened the doors, and walked in. But the princess wasn't there. But there, stood a hero. A man dressed in red and blue overalls. He had a red cap fitted on his head. "Bowser, you have hurt enough innocent people for a life time," Mario said.  
"Mario, you can't stop me! I am the almighty Bowser. I can crush you in my hands. Even if you destroy me, my koopa army will destroy you. It's a lose, lose situation. Now, are we just going to talk like this, or fight?" Bowser asked. Mario made a fist and started running towards Bowser. Mario jumped and was going to kick Bowser, but Bowser sent hot flames out of his mouth and hit Mario. Mario went flying back and crashed into a wall. He hit his head, and fell unconscious. Bowser sent a loud roar, signaling the koopas to go back to his castle. Bowser ran out of the room, and was gone. Bowser was searching for the princess. He picked up a toad, wounded from the fight. "Where is she?" he roared.  
"I-I-I'm not sure," Replied the toad. Bowser threw the toad down in frustration. Then he saw a door. It was Peach's room.he walked over to it and slowly opened the door. He saw dead koopas everywhere.  
"Bowser!" Luigi yelled. Luigi started to run towards Bowser and kicked him in the face. Bowser sent out a groan and fell to the ground. Koopas started running towards the room, hearing the ruckus. Scared, Luigi opened the window and jumped out, running away from the war.  
"Are you alright sir?" one koopa asked. A couple of koopas helped Bowser up.  
"Yes," he said. "I have a feeling the princess is in there. Koopas went into the room and started to search everything. One opened a cabinet, and saw a women in a pink dress with a golden crown on top of her head.  
"I've found her!" one koopa yelled.  
"Very good," said Bowser. "Take her outside." Two koopas lifted her up and took her outside. Bowser started to walk to the front gate. Once he got out, he could hear koopas cheering, they had victory on that surprise attack that day. Koopas shot cannons up in the air in joy. But one bullet, came crashing down onto the castle, which started small fire inside the front gate. Bowser roared, and walked off with his army.  
  
Later, Luigi headed back to the castle. He went into it and saw countless numbers of dead koopas and toads everywhere. Saddened, Luigi left the castle again, but to look for some friends, to avenge all the warriors that died in this war. Luigi left on another journey. 


	3. Meet Rookin

Chapter 3  
  
"I can't believe it." Mario said. "All of that happened. The princess, she is gone. How could we let such a thing happen? How could we let evil win? How." "Well, it's to late now. It did happen, the princess is gone, and evil did win." Luigi interrupted. "Evil hasn't won yet," Mario said as he ran off. "I'll make sure that doesn't happen." So, Mario ran off, not saying another word. "I can't believe him," Luigi said. And that's the last of Mario Luigi saw for quite some time.  
  
It was about 10 o'clock. Day had turned to night, and it was dark. He sat down for a quick rest. He felt a chill on his neck something was looming about. Mario turned around, but nothing was there. Mario walked on for more than an hour, then decided to call it a night. Then everything went black. The moon was covered, it could not shine through the shadows passing in front of it. Mario suddenly heard shrieks. It felt like a hammer has pounded on his head. The shriek got louder. Until Mario couldn't stand it anymore, he ran. He ran fast, trying to escape the shriek. But it didn't work. He kept running until he could run no more. His legs became stiff and he fell to the ground, breathing heavily. He turned himself over, pain spread all over his body. He opened his stiff eyes and saw Paratroopas. Hundreds of them were flying in the night sky. Then two saw Mario, and swooped down. Stretching out their claws, waiting until they could grab Mario, and kill him. Suddenly, a bright light flashed and the paratroopas disappeared. Mario could hear talking, a lot of it. "That's the last of them," one of the voices said. Mario got up and he looked around. He saw nothing, but he still heard the voices. He took a step, and then, all of a sudden, the shadows grew and they were coming closer to Mario. The shadows came into the moonlight and took shape. "Hello traveler. I am Rookin the Koopa. I travel around with my band of men, which are called the shadow koopas by others. We also destroy what we can find of Bowser's men. Now, you wouldn't be one of them, would you? Well, if you were, we would destroy you in a split second, leaving no traces of you corpse behind," Rookin said. Mario sat there, not knowing what to say. He looked at Rookin. Rookin was a koopa with a black shell. He had a bandana around his head. He also had a scar that looked like a cross on his left cheek. Fascinated about this strange koopa, Mario asked, "How did you get that scar?" "How did I get this scar? How did I get this scar?" Rookin replied. All of his men laughed. Mario looked around, he couldn't understand what's going on. "No one asks about Rookin's scar!" yelled one koopa. "I'll make an exception this time," said Rookin. "So, there I was, minding my own business in my town, when it all went ablaze. Everyone was running and screaming. Houses were falling down. I had to escape. But how? I couldn't see through all the smoke. So I just ran. I ran to get away from the nightmare. Suddenly, I stopped running. I bumped into something, but not just anything. I bumped into the King, the King of the Koopas. He roared and scratched my face. His claws dug into me, and dragged along. It seemed like it took forever for him to take them out. After that, he let out another roar and sent fire flying from his mouth, onto me. Luckily, I turned around with my shell facing Bowser. That's how I survived. There were no other survivors. That is all I remember, except when I woke up. There was nothing there, except the remains of what used to be my town. So, that is the story of how I got my scar, and how I got my black shell. Are you happy now?" Mario was amazed. All of what this koopa went through. "Also, that is why I'm out to destroy Bowser, his army of koopas and creatures." Rookin said again. "I am also out to get Bowser. He destroyed my town also, and the castle. He has taken Princess Toadstoal. I am also out to save her." Mario replied. "Aye. You're a good man. By the way, what is your name?" Rookin asked. "I am Mario," the plumber said. Suddenly, trees came crashing down in a blaze. "He is coming!" Rookin yelled. " Get ready! Leave no survivors!" Suddenly, koopas in armor started walking towards Rookin and his men. Bowser roared so viciously, you could've heard it a mile away. Bowser's minions marched towards the shadow koopas, ready to spill their blood that night. Bowser's koopas halted, and went into two groups that left a space in between them, so the King could walk through. The ground was shaking underneath Mario's feet. He was coming. "Mario, whatever you do, don't run. The King feeds on fear, and fear only. He can sense you trembling in the corner, he can know if you are frightened. And whatever you do, don't run, he will catch you. There is no point, you have to stand up and fight, no matter what the chances of you losing or winning. Just do your best," Rookin whispered to Mario. "I know," Mario whispered back. "I have faced this foul being before, many times." "Then you must know what you are up against. And you must've survived, seeing as you're alive now," Rookin replied. Then, the king walked forth, into the moonlight. His red hair looked like fire, his horns looked as sharp as ever. "Tonight, is the night," Rookin said. Bowser walked forward in front of his army. "Mario! What a coincidence you're here. You're supposed to be dead. After all, we have destroyed Toad Town, burned down the castle, killed the Princess, and have taken your brother to my castle, which was not a pretty sight for him. I'm guessing you're here for one last stand against me, and my army of koopas. There is no hope for you and your friends, I've already won," Bowser said. "Y-y-you've killed the princess." Mario said. Suddenly, anger filled Mario's body, and the only thought in Mario's mind was killing Bowser, once and for all. Mario remembered the shiny black rock he had picked up earlier. He took it from his pocket, and started running towards Bowser , but Rookin held him back. "Wait for the right moment," he said. "Ready!" Rookin said again. The shadow koopas ducked down and tucked into their shells. Bowser let out a roar, and his koopas tucked into their shells too. Then Rookin started speaking some language Mario didn't understand. "Il noraye! All the shadow koopas cheered. Then, a split second after that, the shadow koopas and Bowser's army charge at each other. They collided and flew everywhere. It was total chaos. Koopas were running around. The sound of shells hitting each other was heard. One of Bowser's koopas collided into a tree and sent it crashing down into the ground. Bowser was breathing fire, which killed a lot of the shadow koopas. Out of all the chaos, Rookin noticed who he was going after. Filled with rage, Rookin ran towards Bowser, and jumped up into the air. When he came down, he hit Bowser which sent Bowser flying back. Bowser let out another roar, and Rookin charged for another attack. But this time, Bowser jumped out of the way and Rookin stumbled. He picked Rookin up, and swiped at him consecutively with his claws, and then threw him on the ground. Mario just finished throwing a koopa away when he saw Bowser beating on Rookin.  
"Retreat!" one of Rookin's koopas yelled. All of the shadow koopas and Mario ran away into the forest. Mario had no choice to run. If he didn't, he would be left alone amidst the battlefield. He wasn't thinking of anything while running, except the thought of Rookin. Mario and the koopas ran on for quite a while, but then they decided to make camp there. All of the shadow koopas looked sad.  
"Why did you just leave Rookin there to die? Why did you give up on you leader?" Mario asked and no koopas answered. After a long night, they all decided to rest. Mario awoke and it was in the afternoon. He saw someone sitting on the ground. It was a koopa with a black shell, and a bandana around his head. Mario walked towards the koopa. "Who are you?" Mario asked.  
"Your murderer," it replied. 


End file.
